Religious heritage

Tour of the Cistercian abbey, the cellar buildings and park, the history of the Cistercian order. Possibility of projection of a 30 minute film on Lucelle. Situated within the grounds of a former Cistercian Abbey, the European meeting centre offers its family home and "Le Relais de l'Abbaye" restaurant in a leafy haven of peace.

Bellemagny Convent is the birthplace of the congregation of worshiping Benedictine sisters, founded in 1851 by Father Joseph Aloyse Faller who was born in Barr in 1816.
This community spread very rapidly and in Indre, Drôme, Burgundy, Haute-Saone, St. Louis and Lutterbach, Louisiana (USA), Switzerland, Germany and Austria the sisters were asked to to support orphanages, schools, boarding schools, homes for the disabled and the elderly, etc. Today, the Bellemagny convent is still the headquarters for the rest of the congregation and the French provinces.
The Compostela pilgrim route passes by Bellemagny Convent. Every year, 200 to 300 pilgrims stay there for a night or two. The sisters can accommodate up to fifteen people. They prepare their dinner and breakfast. This house is also open to people who want to relax and to groups who need a meeting room.
A chapel and private buildings and religious structures in the cemetery and a park form an imposing group.

Some places are bathed in mystery, poetry and magnetism, and this is certainly true of Burnkirch church in Illfurth which is often painted, photographed and visited.
Founded in the 8th century, it was the ""ecclesia matrix"" (mother church) in the village and this is where the exorcism of young Joseph Burner took place in 1869. It houses frescoes from the 15th century and the tomb of the knight Godefroy Burnkirch. The frescoes are classified as Historic Monuments.

Grünenwald Notre Dame Chapel stands on the wooded ridge that separates the valley of the Largue from that of the Suarcine. The latter is both the boundary between the Upper Rhine area and the Territory of Belfort and an ancient linguistic border between areas of Germanic and Latin speech. During the week this place perched on the heights is quiet and you can relax in the shade of lime trees. The chapel undoubtedly dates back to the 15th century, although the Crowned Virgin cannot be dated precisely. Some children found the statue in theundergrowth. They gave it to the commander of the Order of Knights of St John of Jerusalem,who built the first chapel on the site. The chapel is open every day and the key can be obtained from the ‘‘Au Sapin’’ restaurantnext door. Visit free of charge all year round. Guided tours for groups by appointment

Heiligenbrunn, probably a former place of pagan worship, is a chapel with a spring with healing powers. It was subject to the Walpurge terms (May 1). The chapel was first recorded in 1359. The present building dates back to 1682; sold as national property during the Revolution, the chapel was bought in 1812 by the municipality and restored to a place of worship. It was renovated in 1875 and restoration work was carried out in 1981 and 1990.
For many years the Heiligenbrunn Chapel association has supported maintenance and renovation of the building with the help of various partners. Throughout the year, various events are held for this purpose.

First cited in 1144 and listed as a Historical Monument since 1995, this chapel is an ancient place of worship since dedicated to St Martin. It was originally the Church of Sondersdorf whose inhabitants settled on the heights (the current location of the village) in the 12th century to escape the flooding of the Ill river.
In 1778 the present church was built in the village which had the effect of abandoning Hippoltskirch which henceforth served as a place of pilgrimage of the Virgin. Major work in 1781 gave it its current appearance. A hermit guarded the sanctuary until 1920 when the forest house was built above the chapel.
In 1902 lightning hit the chapel, tearing off part of the roof that covered the altar of the Virgin, breaking and overturning everything around apart from the statue which alone remained intact...

The Notre Dame Chapel in Bellefontaine gets its name from a spring. According to legend, in the sixteenth century a wounded warrior plunged his bloody hand in the water while invoking the Virgin. It is said that it was immediately healed and, in gratitude, he placed a picture or statue of Mary there. Rapidly known throughout the region, the site became a popular pilgrimage destination.
Around the middle of the 18th century a chapel was built, the maintenance of which was entrusted to a hermit. It escaped the revolutionary turmoil and remained a place of celebration for the faithful of the two neighbouring areas. In 2000, the chapel was designated as the official Jubilee pilgrimage in the Sundgau area. Each year, on the feast of St. George, riders go there to bless their horses. Text by Marc GLOTZ

Notre Dame is the third church built on top of the hill in Altkirch. This first place of Christian worship in the region was named ""Alta kirche"" (upper church) because of its geographical location.
It contains some beautiful works of art: a beautiful 15th century Pieta, a set of 4 stone statues of great beauty, ""Christ on the Mount of Olives"", a twelfth century baptismal font, a thirteenth century keystone. There are also beautiful paintings including ""Assumption of the Virgin"" by Gustave Dauphin, ""The dying Christ"" by Jean-Jacques Henner, ""The betrothal of Mary and Joseph"" after Raphael, etc.
The 14 Stations of the Cross have a novel specificity: on the right side they are represented in German because produced after 1870 when Alsace became German, but on the left side in French, reconstructed after the destruction of the 1914-18 war when Alsace became French.

The history of the village of Folgensbourg is dominated by that of the St. Apollinaire Convent, an annex of the Cistercian Abbey in Lucelle.
The influence of this convent extended territorially to the gates of Mulhouse. In addition, a miraculous spring that cured ""falling sickness' (epilepsy) attracted many pilgrims until the revolution.
After the destruction of its Gothic church in 1847, the municipality of Folgensbourg bought altars and had them installed in the parish church.
This heritage of exceptional richness, of which the left side altar is classified as a ""historical monument"", is an absolute must.
Guided tours are planned as part of the summer events organized by the Tourist Information Centre in July and August. Outside these dates, visits for groups are available on request. For information, contact the Tourist Information Centre.

Located between Schwoben and Hausgauen, in a bucolic, leafy setting, Saint-Brice chapel is currently dated 1695, but its origin could be traced back to the year 1000 CE, which would make it the oldest shrine in the valley alng with Knoeringue church. Behind the chapel, on the hillside, lay the village of Dennach which was probably destroyed in the fifteenth century. A hermitage was built In 1753 during the extension of the chancel. Tasked with guarding and decorating the chapel, successive hermits lived austerely on alms from the faithful and the generosity of the community. When the last one died in 1879 it is said that the bell of the small shrine sounded the death knell by itself.
According to legend, sometimes at midnight a demonic dog with bulging eyes sits near the chapel. The ghosts of soldiers who burned the ancient village of Dennach then roam the scene of the crime. When the first hour of the morning tolls in the neighboring village, all of them disappear and the chapel returns to its peaceful state. Text Marc Glotz

St. Brice Chapel, first mentioned in 1361 stands on a wooded hill at an altitude of 470 meters above sea level. It is isolated, lying in a clearing 3 km northeast of the village of Oltingue . Archaeologists have found a Neolithic entrenchment around the site, bearing witness to the presence of man in this region more than 4,000 years ago.
It was partially rebuilt in 1669; Saint-Brice was once a renowned centre of pilgrimage, appearing on the map of Alsace under the name of St. Brixi in 1576.
55 iron ex-votos were discovered in 1910 in the attic and are now kept in the Strasbourg Archaeological Museum; in 1567 there was a hermitage near the chapel, now replaced by a farmhouse that attracts many tourists in summer.
A walking tour of 3km, the big trees trail, is a pleasant stroll through woodland to see the largest beech tree in the canton of Solothurn.

The massive Romanesque bell tower may date back to the thirteenth century. The chancel occupied the ground floor before the construction of the nave from 1745 to 1748 and the present chancel which is now located on the opposite side.
The winged tabernacle with reliquaries is one of the most beautiful in Alsace. Produced in 1668, it comes from the altar of Lucelle Abbey.
At the rear, a large altarpiece painted by Jean-Jacques Bulffer (1744-1819) represents St. Leger, the patron saint of the parish, with the church of Koestlach lower left.
The side altars in Baroque style were made in 1751. The ceiling of the nave is decorated with a representation of the Assumption painted in 1747 by Joseph Xavier Hauwiller.
In the nave, on the right-hand wall, the two paintings on wood from the mid eighteenth century are attributed to Mathias Jehl.
Bench heads (1867) from the former Paravicin foundry in Lucelle. The organ is by Rinkenbach Valentin (1837). On the 1780 baptistery note the snake with the apple, symbol of original sin. Marc GLOTZ text. Sundgau By Bike

Saint-Martin-des-Champs is in the middle of fields about 500 metres from the village of Oltingue. It was the mother church of Oltingue and 3 defunct villages. In the 7th century, a notable family erected a small cemetery chapel on the site of an ancient Gallo-Roman rural settlement. Now classified as a Historic Monument, archaeological excavations conducted in 1989 identified four development phases from the 12th to the 13th century. The present church was built in the late 13th century and was rebuilt in 1868 (neo-Gothic windows and doors). The excavations unearthed various burials still visible today: a monolithic sarcophagus (7th, 8th century), a stone tomb from the 8th century: it contains a skeleton whose elevated feet rested on the bones of five individuals, proof of much re-use. Funeral deposits included a Carolingian shard, an iron belt buckle and a Charles Le Chauve era coin struck around 840 in Strasbourg. A stone box contained, in addition to the first deceased skeleton, the remains of the bones of thirty individuals. It was found near the site of prehistoric flint tools, but also of Roman pottery, carved tiles and stones. On the hill in Oltingue, stone wall remains and a domestic pit bear witness to the presence of a missing Gallo-Roman fortification.

Some historians say that Sainte-Croix chapel dates back to the 11th century. As a high place of worship throughout the ages, it was regularly renovated, particularly in 1620 and in 1862.
After 1848, when the first St Hubert's church was built, its worship function became secondary although its role remained important in the village given that it served as an infirmary during the First World War and as a church between 1916 and 1928 when replacing the destroyed church.
Today, it is a place of exhibitions, conferences, poetry, cinema and music evenings, special ceremonies and receptions and tourist visits, but in the hearts and collective consciousness of Seppoisians it will always be the Sainte-Croix chapel.

On the first floor of Altkirch hospital is the St. Morand oratory chapel. According to tradition, it was in this very place in the old priory that St. Morand died in 1115. This chapel is of interest mainly for its Baroque style and remarkable paintings by Giuseppe Appiani that adorn the walls and ceiling.
The windows present scenes which include the death of St. Morand, the generosity of St. Vincent de Paul towards a pauper, and the Nativity.

The first mention of the site dates back to 1105, when Frederick, Count of Ferrette, gave the priory to Hugh Semur, Abbot of Cluny. St. Morand officiated there from 1106 onwards. He was tasked with establishing Benedictine rule. He criss-crossed the region for ten years, performing conversions, healings and miracles. On his death in 1115, he was buried in the middle of the priory church which took his name. St. Morand was canonized in the late 12th century. As you venture inside, you can see a recumbent effigy of St. Morand and a reliquary given in 1428 by Archduke Frederick of the Tyrol.
The priory was bought in 1828 by the city of Altkirch to be turned into a hospital. Today, the hospital still occupies the buildings thanks to restructuring and expansion.

The church still has a sloped-roof bell tower and the massive Gothic chancel dates back to the 13th century while the base of the tower dates from the 12th century. They are well integrated into the Gothic Revival style nave, built according to the ideas of the curator of Historical Monuments Johann Knauth. It was consecrated in July 1914 by Archbishop Zorn Bulach, the Coadjutor bishop of Strasbourg, during one of the last holidays before the tragedy of the First World War. Text inspired by Marc Glotz.

A Romanesque jewel of the Sundgau, the church dates from 1144. Built by Count Frederic 1st of Ferrette as a burial place for himself and his family. A historical monument, the church is now the oldest in Alsace dedicated to St James the Greater. The pilgrims to Compostela passed through Feldbach, the crossroads of many ancient routes. These pilgrims came largely from the Palatinate, passing via Strasbourg. The restored church was officially inaugurated on 3 July 1977 by Auxiliary Bishop Brand who is now the Archbishop of Strasbourg.